Even though Rock Hudson died nearly 40 years ago, his life story seems especially timely.

Hudson was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1950s and ’60s, a masculine heartthrob who wooed Elizabeth Taylor and Doris Day on screen. But off-screen, he lived his life as a gay man in secret, at a time when coming out could have destroyed his career. When he died of AIDS in 1985, at the age of 59, he became one of the disease’s most famous victims, prompting an outpouring of public support for AIDS awareness and research.

When the producers of a new HBO documentary on Hudson started researching the star’s life and his role in LGBTQ+ history a couple of years ago, they quickly found the best and most comprehensive source was a 2018 book called “All That Heaven Allows” by Lewiston author Mark Griffin. They brought on Griffin, who interviewed more than 100 people over four years for his book, as their resident Hudson expert for the film. The documentary, “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed,” debuted June 28 on HBO and is streaming on Max.

“It was clear that Mark’s book was the most in-depth, well-researched biography of Rock that existed and having access to Mark, with his wealth of knowledge, and to his materials, especially all of the recorded interviews, would be invaluable,” said Carolyne Jurriaans, a producer on the film. “Mark really was our Rock oracle. Any question we had about Rock, his films, his relationships or any other aspect of his life or career, we could go to Mark with, and he would either have an answer or be a great person to have an informed conversation with. ”

Rock Hudson on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in the 1960s.   Photo courtesy of Lee Garlington

Griffin, 53, is also heard – but not seen – throughout the film, talking about some aspect of Hudson’s life or on recordings of interviews he did with Hudson’s co-stars, friends and lovers for his book. The film is heavy on film clips from Hudson’s career, still photographs from friends and some home movie footage. Several of his friends and boyfriends are interviewed in the film. It’s lively and fast-paced at times, as was Hudson’s rise to stardom, but slows down in spots to go in depth into Hudson’s double life and his yearlong struggle with AIDS at the end of it.

Griffin, who became fascinated with Hudson and other Hollywood stars while watching old movies on TV as a kid, says the HBO documentary will help remind people of how difficult the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights has been and how it continues to face mounting obstacles. The documentary premiered in June at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, to coincide with national Pride Month.

Griffin was recently a guest on “CBS Sunday Morning” to promote the film. He’s also appeared with the film at theaters and festivals.

“It’s sort of incredible how relevant and timely his story is now, when you read in the news about the governor of Florida preventing teachers from discussing gender or about efforts to ban symbols of gay pride,” Griffin said. “Yes, there’s been progress. But Rock’s story is a reminder of how many more miles we still need to go. ”

Mark Griffin’s book on Rock Hudson features prominently in a new HBO documentary. Photo courtesy of Harper Collins

THE LURE OF HOLLYWOOD HISTORY

Griffin grew up in Lewiston, where his father was an electrician and his mother was a homemaker. He says he was always encouraged to pursue his passions, which included writing stories and plays on his typewriter. He graduated from St. Dominic Regional High School in 1986 and then studied film history and writing at Emerson College in Boston, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1990. He also took some graduate-level film courses at New York University but did not complete the program.

He worked for a while at a theater company in Florida but has mostly worked as a writer, with his work appearing in newspapers and magazines. Griffin combined his love of old Hollywood and his writing with a book on film director Vincente Minnelli, “A Hundred or More Hidden Things,” which came out in 2010. Minnelli had directed some classic musicals of the 1940s and ’50s, including “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “An American in Paris,” and was married to Judy Garland.

After that book was published and got good reviews, Griffin was told by an agent that he should think about a book on a movie star from Hollywood’s heyday. He thought of various stars, but his mind kept wandering back to Hudson.

“I just felt like from what I read about him that his whole story hadn’t been comprehensively put together,” Griffin said. “After his death, he had morphed into an LGBTQ icon, so I thought it was worth a second look at his career and life and how he touched so many aspects of American culture.”

The title of Griffin’s book, “All That Heaven Allows,” is also the title of a 1955 Hudson melodrama co-starring Jane Wyman. It’s the story of a well-off widow who has a romance with a younger man from more moderate means. Griffin said the title’s meaning is roughly “the gods give and the gods take away,” which he thought was fitting for a book on Hudson’s life. He said he had no objection to the HBO documentary using the same title, but in the end, producers decided to make it slightly different: “All That Heaven Allowed.”

For his book, Griffin interviewed more than 100 people who knew Hudson, including other actors, such as Carol Burnett, Joel Grey, Piper Laurie, Arlene Dahl and Tab Hunter, as well as writer Armistead Maupin and personal friends. The book, published by HarperCollins, got glowing reviews in the Boston Globe and USA Today, among other publications.

Author Mark Griffin of Lewiston’s book and research on the life of Rock Hudson was used in a new HBO documentary. Photo courtesy of HBO

Separately and a couple of years later, a team of filmmakers began thinking about a Hudson documentary. After surveying the available material on Hudson, they realized they needed to use Griffin, his book and his extensive trove of information on Hudson.

“It was our roadmap,” the documentary’s director, Stephen Kijak, said of Griffin’s book. “Mark was very involved in the film as an adviser, and the fact that he had recorded nearly all of the interviews he conducted for the book was incredibly helpful to us, as many of those folks are no longer with us. ”

Kijak called Griffin “our resident expert” and noted that Griffin’s narration “guides us through many sections of the film.”

The book and the documentary both detail Hudson’s rise from a relative unknown World War II Navy veteran from Winnetka, Illinois, named Roy Fitzgerald to one of the biggest movie stars in America in the 1950s and early ’60s. It was a time when movies were the main form of mainstream entertainment, and Hollywood closely groomed and guarded the images of their stars.

He got an Oscar nomination for “Giant” in 1956, playing opposite Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Some of his other major films included “Magnificent Obsession” (1954), “Battle Hymn” (1957), “A Farewell to Arms” (1957) and “Pillow Talk” (1959). The latter was one of three hit romantic comedies he made with Doris Day.

The documentary shows how the mainstream press of the day wrote about Hudson’s dates with leading ladies and his short-lived marriage – that some say was arranged – to his agent’s secretary. It also details the closely guarded world Hudson built up for himself. He often had large parties with mostly male guests at his home but was rarely seen in public or photographed with gay friends. One of his boyfriends, Lee Garlington, is seen in the documentary talking about how he and Hudson were careful never to have their photo taken together while they dated. Friends said they never heard Hudson wish he could come out or date men publicly, but they admitted he was part of a generation that stoically accepted keeping their sex life and identity secret.

Some of Hudson’s co-stars can be heard talking about him in the film, including Linda Evans. Evans co-starred with Hudson on the popular ABC drama “Dynasty” after Hudson had been diagnosed with AIDS. In one scene during that time, Hudson kisses Evans. In the documentary film, Evans talks about how Hudson did not look well during the scene and how he kept his mouth closed during the kiss, which didn’t look right and had to be reshot several times.

Rock Hudson in 1954.  Photo courtesy of Photofest/HBO

At the time, AIDS was relatively new, and much about the disease and how it was transmitted was unknown to the public. Evans can be heard becoming emotional in the film when she talks about how Hudson likely thought he was protecting her by keeping his mouth closed. After Hudson died, in October 1985 at the age of 59, tabloids and other outlets showed the photo of Hudson and Evans kissing while Hudson had AIDS.

“It makes me cry, because he was protecting me,” Evans said.

The news that Hudson had AIDS was finally disclosed when he was sick and near death in Paris hospital. Griffin said there had been so many rumors about Hudson’s deteriorating health and his gaunt, frail appearance – including that he had anorexia – that his friends and advisers decided an official announcement should be made to the press. The announcement was made in July 1985, just months before his death.

“It’s unclear how lucid Hudson was when he was hospitalized at the American Hospital of Paris. It’s been suggested that Hudson’s advisers and publicist came to the conclusion that they had to disclose his AIDS diagnosis, and Rock gave them permission to go public,” Griffin said.

The announcement was a shock to the American public, disclosing both that a symbol of American masculinity was gay and that he was dying of this mysterious new disease.  In the film, LGBTQ+ activists, writers and friends talked about the impact Hudson had in death, including in raising money for AIDS research and helping reveal the painful secrets kept by so many gay people for so long.

Griffin says he’s very happy with the way the film turned out.

“After Hudson died, there were books that were just rushed out there to capitalize on the media attention,” said Griffin. “With my book and this HBO film, every effort was made to exhaustively seek the truth in telling his story and detailing the impact he had. He certainly deserves that. “

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